The CTA took over operation of the city's public transportation system from the Chicago Rapid Transit Company in 1947, giving residents a new abbreviation to gripe about for years to come. But as much as we complain about station closures, late buses and Ventra fiascos, it's pretty incredible that a system this large runs at all. Even more impressive is the fact that the El has been ferrying people to homes, offices and restaurants since 1892. We looked through the CTA's photographic archives and picked out some of the best historic images of Chicago's ever-changing fleet of trains and buses.

Actually, it's Wilson Yard, to the south of the 'L' station. The building in the background are Wilson Shops, which were built more than 100 years ago and burned after being decommissioned -- paving the way for the Target store and other development now surrounding it.

The cars on that train are special. They were at least two of the four "high speed" cars built in 1959 to test new concepts that would appear on later series of 'L' cars. The paint job was white over red and was only applied to eight cars total. Those two cars were among four that ended up on the Skokie Swift to open service in 1964 and served there for many years after. For many years, they were the fastest 'L' cars on the system, capable of 70 miles an hour.